2y ago

Black Ohio woman criminally charged after miscarriage underscores the perils of pregnancy post-Roe

The 33-year-old Watts, who had not shared the news of her pregnancy even with her family, made her first prenatal visit to a doctor’s office behind Mercy Health-St. Joseph’s Hospital in Warren, a working-class city about 60 miles (100 kilometers) southeast of Cleveland.

The doctor said that, while a fetal heartbeat was still present, Watts’ water had broken prematurely and the fetus she was carrying would not survive. He advised heading to the hospital to have her labor induced, so she could have what amounted to an abortion to deliver the nonviable fetus. Otherwise, she would face “significant risk” of death, according to records of her case.

That was a Tuesday in September. What followed was a harrowing three days entailing: multiple trips to the hospital; Watts miscarrying into, and then flushing and plunging, a toilet at her home; a police investigation of those actions; and Watts, who is Black, being charged with abuse of a corpse. That’s a fifth-degree felony punishable by up to a year in prison and a $2,500 fine.

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- People have been talking about the possibility of this exact situation for decades. Any moderates who have not heard it simply don't want to hear it
  
  The public has the memory of a goldfish. We're less than 3 years out from the single worst administration in the history of this country, and we're seriously considering putting him back in office.
- The GOP already packed the court by acting in bad faith with Obama. There's no reason we shouldn't just appoint more judges. 9 has not always been the size of the court, and the size is not restricted by the Constitution.
  
  Or how about reducing the size back to 7 and removing the 2 newest members?
- what will happen if republicans take control on a national level.
  States don't have to follow federal law. Just look at cannabis.
  There's a 0% chance Californians go along with any federal restrictions on abortion.
You need to show me a birth and death certificate for that to be a corpse.
- And then she gets a child credit in her taxes.
  
  Unrelated fun fact on child tax credits: There is a section of the internal revenue code that states if your child has been kidnapped, you can still claim the dependent.
  This means that at some point in time, somebody lost a child, and their priority was maintaining that sweet, sweet credit to the point that they went to court to argue the matter.
  Edit: It's in Internal Revenue Code section 152
  (6)Treatment of missing children (A)In general Solely for the purposes referred to in subparagraph (B), a child of the taxpayer— (i)who is presumed by law enforcement authorities to have been kidnapped by someone who is not a member of the family of such child or the taxpayer, and (ii)who had, for the taxable year in which the kidnapping occurred, the same principal place of abode as the taxpayer for more than one-half of the portion of such year before the date of the kidnapping, shall be treated as meeting the requirement of subsection (c)(1)(B) with respect to a taxpayer for all taxable years ending during the period that the child is kidnapped.
Remember guys, both sides are the same. We should probably vote third party or something. /S
- They are. What did Democrats do to stop this?
  Nothing.
  They raised $80,000,000 off of Roe repeal instead.
  
  Well, people did stop this in Ohio, specifically. Local organizers recently successfully petitioned to put abortion rights (which Republican representatives had been threatening) on the ballot statewide - voters got it passed, alongside marijuana legalization, all while facing (and continuing to face) significant antagonism and legal backlash from "elected" Republicans in the 2nd most gerrymandered state in the union.
  Both parties suck, I'd go so far as to say both parties frequently do outright evil shit, but they are not the fucking same, and even if they were, that has yet stop people from coming together to get involved and improve their communities themselves. Observing politics near exclusively at the federal level tends to obscure that reality. I accept that this sort of doomerism can come from a place of ignorance, so I offer you suggestion: if you want things to get better, go help. Go find out what groups are actively working to induce local- or state-level government reform, or who are working to directly improve the lives of marginalized people in your community, and go help them. You can't exactly stop fed-level Dems from being useless hypocrites, but you can get involved with groups in your community to help with the work of bringing about positive change - and while that is harder than stewing about the state of things, it actually gets results.
  
  Wait, why is raising money your problem here? TFG sells cut up pieces of fabric from a mug shot suit and NFTs to make money...
  The only thing I'd relent on is that Dems trusted a Supreme Court decision to confer abortion rights, talk about Dems being dense, why rely on the highest court in the land to set precedent? How funny they couldn't foresee 6 Republican installed Justices tearing it out decades later, one (Alito) referencing a guy's treatise from 400 years ago.
  Yeah, definitely the same...
  
  You dropped this /s
- Remember, the lesser-evil is still evil and democrats did nothing to enshrine abortion rights in the constitution.
  Democrats love this because it means they don't have to improve.
  
  What in ever fuck are you smoking? Is civics no longer taught in school ??? Walk us through the path to get this enshrined in the constitution. I'm really curious how that's happening.
  
  The Democrats could have passed a bill, but "enshrining it in the Constitution" would mean passing a Constitutional amendment. First, they would need a 2/3rds vote of Congress. That means that the Democrats couldn't have a slim majority - they'd need a large majority. Or they'd need to find Republicans willing to vote for a Constitutional amendment protecting abortion rights. Basically an impossibility.
  Even if the Democrats managed to get the Constitutional Right To Abortion passed, they would need to have 75% of the state legislatures pass it. Democrats don't control that name state legislatures.
  So perhaps the Democrats could have passed a national law, right? Except that the Republicans would inevitably filibuster this in the Senate. The Democrats could have changed the filibuster rules, but not all of them supported changing these rules. (Mainly because it would prevent them from stopping the Republicans if the Republicans regained the Senate.) Any law that was passed would inevitably have been challenged up to the conservative Supreme Court.
  You could definitely criticize the Democrats for not pushing harder to pass a law guaranteeing abortion, but a Constitutional Amendment was out of reach.
  
  Yes, let's go die of exposure because there's a hole in the roof. Throw the whole house away just because there's glaring issues with it when there's no other viable choice in the vicinity.
  What level of analogy do you need to understand that if you abandon the power you do have (ie minute nudge control of democratic establishment) you become irrelevant due to powerlessness?
  To change what's acceptable, you shift what's considered acceptable, nip at the bits that are trying to stay with the old status quo, and repeat until you move the window to wherever you're trying to push it. That's how this works (if the window goes left for democrats, you would call that an "improvement"). Revolution is anomalous. Pushing for revolution and depending on the assumption of it happening leads to total powerlessness, which is less than what lefties have right now (right now I'd only call them mostly powerless).
  You can't get away from dealing with the devil when Satan created the whole system in the first place.
They left her waiting, knowing the baby was already dead, increasing her risk of potentially deadly complications. I see no problem here. The dead baby should have been removed.
She should not be charged with anything. There is medical neglect going on here and it's obvious to me that her life was in jeopardy the longer she carried the dead baby.
I lost my last pregnancy at 20+ weeks due to premature break of my water. I didn't even realize it had happened, the pregnancy was wanted even if it wasn't planned, and I am still dealing with the trauma (and the hospital bills). All I can think of is I'm thankful it happened when it did and my doctor didn't hesitate to induce labor - a medical induced abortion - so my life would be okay. (And I was able to get a copper IUD placed because I know my mental health could not survive the potential loss of another child.)
This poor woman... She is traumatized and our trash legal system wants to fine her and jail her. She needs support and love, not more debt and punishment. I screamed and cried in the hospital surrounded by support medical staff. She was in her bathroom...
This makes my blood boil. The government should have zero say in private medical decisions. Abortion is no one's first choice.
- You see no problem because you are not a brainwashed, religious, misogynistic nutjob with a need to control all women and keep them in their place
- So sorry. It is definitely extremely traumatic. We don't talk about this sort of thing enough. I can't imagine the horror of facing a devastating loss and going to jail on top of it for doing nothing wrong.
  I wouldn't be surprised to see more women arrested for miscarriages in the future. This is the hellscape of control and misery the GOP wants.
  It's fucking sickening, cruel, ignorant, and disgusting.
  The GOP must be stripped of power.
  
  The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants.
  -Thomas Jefferson
I grew up in Ohio.
Don't live in Ohio.
- Ohio has produced a statistically abnormal amount of astronauts. Ohio is so bad that the people from there have been soured of the earth itself.
  
  Their exit velocity when leaving Ohio is so high that they simply can't stop themselves from catapulting into space.
Catholic hospital leaves this women sitting and waiting for care while they debate on whether or not to provide treatment because of laws and policies. They never provide her treatment and she goes home. What choice did this poor woman have but to have a miscarriage at home. I can't begin to imagine the horror and hopelessness this woman endured. She would have been in no good mental state to deal with this and honestly her actions shouldn't be held against her.
- Even if she hadn't gone to the hospital first, this could happen to anyone. 10-15% of pregnancies end in miscarriage, many of them happen at home. Probably even more, but people don't always realize even when it happens. Just another example in a long list of many many reasons why these anti abortion access laws are wrong. Her actions are not surprising, why would anyone want to be forthcoming about a miscarriage if just acknowledging it may turn the authorities on you? Accusing you of inducing an abortion?
  The mother could have died from these delays in care too, this situation can result in sepsis and other complications. As the fetus becomes exposed to the outside world massive infections, fetal death, and then maternal death can all ensue. The first doctor was right, she should go straight to the hospital. But then the hospital just sent her home multiple times with premature ruptured membranes while they deliberate abortion legalities? That's a hospital admission for continuous monitoring until delivery or an abortion (depending on specifics and gestational age/viability), not a discharge to home and wait situation.
  We need these stupid and dangerous laws all struck down yesterday. Anti abortion access laws kill people.
Soon public bathrooms in America can have birth certificate dispensers for all the miscarriages that are apparently corpses now.
This the Future Republicans want for their Daughters!
- Other people's daughters, their own they think will be magically excused do to circumstance. (Which will match many of the womens circumstance they wished death upon)
  
  It's an adaptation of the Just World fallacy.
  I think it goes like this: "These things happen to people who... well, somehow God knows this is right for them. Probably punishment for something, maybe not. Punishment is less likely if they're white and church going.
  But it happens for a reason. A justifiable one, even if it's inscrutable."
  I think things happen for reasons too. Just not magical ones.
  Edits: markdown is more challenging on mobile.
- No. Their own abortions are proper, moral, and necessary. It’s everyone else’s (especially marginal communities) abortions that are a travesty and murder.
  
  For those who may not have read this:
  The Only Moral Abortion is my Abortion
This is obviously a dumb question, but what the fuck are the legal requirements of a miscarriage? I can imagine her thinking she was glad she didn't have any more appointments or have to pay a huge hospital bill. What else was she supposed to do, and would she have known?
I once passed a kidney stone and they didn't say to do anything special with it so I threw it away. Same thing, right?
- .
  
  If it cost but a penny, republicans wouldn’t afford dignity for their own mothers.
  And they couldn’t afford it without a bailout from California.
- The legal requirement seems to be not to have one.
  Stuff like that if people who have not a single clue about pregnancy make laws regarding pregnancy.
- This has nothing to do with the case above, but it's a really bad idea to just throw away a kidney stone. It needs to be analyzed so you can come up with a treatment plan with your doctor to help you avoid future problems.
  
  Oh man and that's free?
  
  I've had several. I guess they figured they'd analyzed enough of them.
This is horrific on so many levels. I can't imagine how much trauma this is all causing. 😭
- My first step-mother miscarried my half brother's twin (without knowing she was even pregnant let alone with twins), and the only reason she knew to dig it out of the toilet to be tested was because she was a nurse.
  Expecting a traumatized non-medically trained woman to know the same is stupid at best.
  
  Also though, if it's your first or even second miscarriage in a row, they won't test it anyway. That's an optional thing you spend a lot of money on. They straight told me there's nothing we can do for you and there's no point in testing after 2, because it's so common that it's just normal.
  If you go to pass it in the hospital that's thousands of dollars, and only makes sense if you fear for your life. Dealing with the major period at home on the toilet and with adult diapers is way cheaper and much more comfortable in your grief.
  
  Good grief. 🥺
  And yes to the comment. 😔
This is a terrible tragic story. Republicans are going to eat shit every time there is a story like this. It’s going to grind on like this until the Supreme Court reverses course. I hope Republicans lose big in the mean time.
Wtf
Garbage state.
Please help this nonamerican understand why her skin colour is relevant?
- Because in a country with racism in many areas it is always a part of the topic. The medical system already has issues with treatment of black patients. And law enforcement has severe known bias.
  Not saying that is the case here but it is often a part of the story.
- .
- Our legal system has historically been often leveraged disproportionately against black folks. That may or may not be the case here, but perhaps the author thinks so.
- Because if she was white she likely would have received treatment at the hospital

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